In a sport where the term “sniper” is often thrown around too easily,
Alex Pereira wields a once-in-a-lifetime blend of precision and power.
In the main event of UFC 303 on Saturday in Las Vegas, light heavyweight champ Pereira (11-2) met
Jiri Prochazka (30-5-1) in a rematch of their title fight seven months ago, which the Brazilian won by second-round knockout after likely losing the first round. In the rematch, the first round was a surprisingly tentative affair, most likely due to both men now being fully cognizant of the other’s power. The champ quickly went to work with the brutal leg kicks that had been effective for him in their first meeting, and which had given Prochazka trouble in his subsequent fight against
Aleksandar Rakic as well. Prochazka had some success bouncing into range and landing single punches, but his attempts to bring the fight to the floor went nowhere. Nonetheless, the round was a competitive affair—that is, up to the final seconds, when “Poatan” knocked Prochazka down with a pinpoint left hook at the horn. The challenger rose and returned to his stool but was still gathering his wits a minute later when the next round began. He would not get the chance. Pereira lanced “Denisa” with a left high kick in the opening seconds, dropping him in his tracks. He followed up with a series of absolutely brutal standing-to-ground punches until referee Herb Dean pulled him off at 13 seconds of Round 2. The vicious finish ran Pereira’s Octagon record to 8-1, a perfect 4-0 at light heavyweight, and will likely lead to renewed calls for the 36-year-old to test his fortunes at heavyweight, perhaps pursuing an unprecedented third divisional title. Prochazka fell to 4-2 in the UFC.
Diego Lopes, Dan Ige Make Sparks Fly in 11th-Hour Co-Main Event
In an unprecedented development, the co-main event of UFC 303 changed on fight night to include a fighter who had not previously been part of the fight card, as the co-main event between
Brian Ortega and
Diego Lopes , which had already been moved from featherweight to lightweight the day before, fell apart entirely when Ortega fell ill after Friday’s weigh-ins. Historically, that would have resulted in a complete cancellation of the bout, but longtime featherweight fringe contender
Dan Ige , a Las Vegas resident and general badass, stepped up on Saturday. The result was two featherweight action merchants meeting at a 165-pound catchweight, a matchup that became official when Ige weighed in on Saturday—alongside Lopes, who was required to make the new weight limit and came in at 161 pounds.
Once the fight started, Lopes looked to make a fast start, leveraging his height, reach and speed against his ultra-late-notice foe. Ige was game and composed, however, and while he did not match the Brazilian’s furious output, he made it through the first four minutes without suffering too much damage aside from the effects of Lopes’ hard leg kicks. Lopes made things interesting late in Round 1, jumping on a front headlock, cinching up a brabo choke and rolling for the finish. Ige survived and escaped, but it cemented a solid round for Lopes. Lopes went back to work with the low kicks in the second frame and, same as in the first, hauled Ige to the ground at the first opportunity, taking the Hawaiian’s back and working for a rear-naked choke. Ige fought off the choke attempts, but his own offense for the rest of the round was limited to punches thrown over his shoulder—even if some of those were surprisingly effective—while Lopes held onto the dominant position and peeled off for an armbar in the closing seconds.
Knowing he must be trailing on the scorecards going into the final round, Ige came out swinging hard, marching forward with disciplined aggression and trying to land the strike, or combination of strikes, that might turn defeat into victory. He had his moments, including a right hand that appeared to freeze Lopes for a second, but Lopes blunted Ige’s momentum with a brutal kick to Ige’s already compromised legs. Ige regrouped, marched forward again and rocked Lopes with another salvo of punches, and the suddenly tired-looking Brazilian shot for a takedown. After an extended wrestling sequence, Ige landed on top, but as Lopes closed his guard and controlled Ige’s posture, it appeared to be a won battle that might have lost Ige the war. Lopes made it to the final horn and picked up the well-deserved decision via unanimous 29-28 scores. The win brought Lopes’ record to 25-6 overall and 4-1 in the UFC with four straight wins since his debut as a replacement foe for Top 10 contender
Movsar Evloev . Ige fell to 18-8, 9-7 in the UFC, but otherwise lost nothing by stepping up on short notice and added to his reputation as one of the true “anyone, anytime, anywhere” fighters of his era.
Dolidze Pummels Smith in Short-Notice Clash
The originally scheduled UFC 303 co-main event between
Jamahal Hill and
Khalil Rountree Jr. fell victim to a cascade of injuries and other withdrawals that had fighter names spinning through like a slot machine. The tumblers finally came to a stop on a matchup of two late replacements in
Anthony Smith and
Roman Dolidze , who met in the light heavyweight feature bout. The two threw caution to the wind in Round 1, choosing instead to take turns blasting each other with leg kicks and glancing combinations of power punches. Smith may have edged out a close round by checking a few more kicks than Dolidze, staying mobile, and refusing to concede the clinch or be backed into the cage. The Georgian took control of things early in the second frame, however, pursuing Smith to the floor off of a partial slip and hammering him with ground strikes. Smith covered up and regained his wits, but Dolidze remained stuck to him, continuing to punish him with punches at the base of the fence—blows that, blocked or not, clearly took a toll. Whether he was behind on the cards or tied 1-1 going into the final round, Smith was clearly the more tired and damaged fighter, but his trademark “Lionheart” will was on display, and the result was a razor-close five minutes during which the two fatigued fighters both had moments of effective offense. The cageside judges saw the action more unambiguously in favor of Dolidze, who picked up the win by 30-27, 29-28 and 29-28 scores. Dolidze, who stepped up from middleweight to the division in which he first made a splash on his arrival in the UFC, moved to 13-3 overall, 7-3 in the Octagon, while Smith fell to 38-20 (13-10 UFC).
Chiasson Slices Up Bueno Silva
A pivotal women’s bantamweight bout turned from a chess match to a bloodbath in an instant, as
Macy Chiasson cut
Mayra Bueno Silva wide open with a brutal second-round elbow strike. Round 1 was characterized by kickboxing exchanges at distance in which both women had notable success—especially Silva (10-4-1, 1 NC; 5-4-1, 1 NC UFC), who caught Chiasson (10-3, 8-3 UFC) with a spinning wheel kick to the head—punctuated by long clinch sequences against the fence where neither was able to do much damage. Once the second round began, however, what was shaping up as an intriguing clash was short-circuited within seconds, as Chiasson scored with a trip takedown, landed in the Brazilian’s guard and dropped a left elbow strike that split Silva’s forehead directly above the right eyebrow. They continued to fight with no interruption, with Silva briefly even threatening with an armbar, but it quickly became obvious just how severe the cut was. Referee Chris Tognoni called for a timeout so that the cageside physician could inspect the injury. Despite Silva’s strenuous objections, the doctor advised Tognoni to end the fight, and the result went down as a TKO at 1:58 of Round 2. Chiasson’s second win in a row at bantamweight left her at 7-1 in that division since joining the UFC as the featherweight winner of “The Ultimate Fighter” Season 28, and with her weight difficulties apparently in the past, the sky appears to be the limit for the 32-year-old Louisianan. Silva, who came to Saturday’s bout from her unsuccessful attempt to win the vacant belt against
Raquel Pennington last year, has now lost two in a row and faces an uphill climb back to another title shot.
Undefeated Garry Slips Past “MVP”
In the main card opener, two of the more intriguing talents and bigger personalities in the UFC welterweight division clashed, with 26-year-old Irish phenom
Ian Garry (15-0) meeting recent
Bellator MMA acquisition
Michael Page . While there was certainly fan anticipation regarding the matchup of Page’s dazzling standup arsenal against Garry’s more conventional but undeniably effective kickboxing, Garry circumvented the striking duel by catching a kick and taking “MVP” down within the first minute or so. From there, he quickly moved to Page’s back, locking up a body triangle and attempting to choke him out for the balance of the round. Page was badly outmatched on the ground but was very game, surviving to the end of the round by fighting off several rear-naked chokes and even throwing punches over his shoulder. Page came back sharp in Round 2, escaping a questionable leglock attempt from the Irishman and catching him with several blisteringly fast punch combinations. With the fight likely standing at a round apiece, the welterweight sensations combined to serve up a wild, hard-to-score five minutes. Page appeared to get the best of the early striking, and landed in Garry’s guard off of a blown takedown attempt by “The Future,” but Garry swept Page and took his back standing, where he sank his hooks but was unable to do much but hang on as the Brit tried to shake him over the top. The fight went to the judges, who scored it unanimously for Garry (29-28, 29-28, 29-28), his eighth straight win since joining the UFC out of
Cage Warriors Fighting Championship a little over three years ago. Page’s loss leaves the 37-year-old 1-1 in his new promotion and blunts the momentum of his debut win over
Kevin Holland at UFC 299 in March.
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